REVIEWS
EARTHQUAKER
Spatial Delivery
By Joe Gore
V
oltage-controlled envelope filter pedals seem to be en
vogue again. This time, though, they’re not just for neofunkateers. Yeah, it can be tough to plug into one and
not go all P-Funk. But wily guitarists have demonstrated that
when you mate resonant filters with fuzzes and other modern
noisemakers, it’s possible to move well beyond the usual cleantoned quackety-quack.
But really, most of today’s envelope filters aren’t that far
removed from Mike Beigel’s 1972 Mu-Tron III, the first voltagetriggered filter effect. Nowadays you can choose from many
Mu-Tron clones and spin-offs, including models from Beigel’s
own Mu-FX line. Given that, it’s the little twists and variations
that make a modern auto-filter compelling. And compelling is
certainly the word for the new Spatial Delivery envelope filter
from Earthquaker Devices.
3-way mode toggle
(up, down, sample
and hold)
Multi-mode filter knob
(low-pass, band-pass,
high-pass)
The filter knob fades continuously
between low-pass, band-pass,
and high-pass, which means a huge
range of filter variations are accessible
via a single control.
Silent relay
switching
Deceptively Simple
The Spatial Delivery layout seems simple. There are only three
knobs: range (sensitivity), resonance (feedback), and filter
(the cutoff frequency). There’s also a small toggle with three
settings (up, down, and sample and hold). The effect lives in a
standard 125B-sized enclosure with top-mounted plastic jacks
and a silent relay switch. Old-school through-hole components
populate the tidy circuit board. Spatial Delivery runs on
standard 9V power. There’s no battery option.
Spatial Delivery offers a wealth of resonant-filter sounds
despite relatively few knobs. Much of this is due to a control
the pedal doesn’t have: a filter-mode selector. Most envelope
filters have a switch to choose between low-pass, high-pass,
and (maybe) band-pass filtering. But here, the filter control
fades continuously between low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass,
which means a huge range of filter variations are accessible via a
single control.
premierguitar.com
Thanks to the multi-mode filter knob, operation is easy and
intuitive. Just tune the response with the range control, spin the
magic filter knob, and sharpen or soften the filter edge with the
resonance knob. I can’t recall encountering an envelope filter
that coughs up so many usable sounds quite so quickly.
Resonant Evil
With the toggle set to filter-up mode, positioning the knobs
near noon yields the expected Jerry Garcia/Stevie Wonder
quacking. These tones are tactile and pleasantly “chewy.”
PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2016 161